ally
prevalent, tended directly to "stifle the best emotions of the female
heart, and to call all its worst passions into exercise." It has been
supposed by some, that the wonder which the disciples of Christ
expressed, when they found him conversing with the woman of Samaria,
originated partly in their low opinion of her sex. The Talmud teaches
that it is beneath the dignity of a Rabbi, to talk familiarly with a
woman; and the Jew was accustomed, we are told, to give thanks to God,
that he was not a woman.

But open the New Testament, and how in a moment is this estimation
elevated. Of the Physical and Intellectual rank of woman, nothing is,
indeed, there said. But as a creature of God, and a member of the great
family of mankind, she is placed on an entire equality with man.
Christianity does not make her responsible, as a moral and immortal
being, to man, but represents both as having a common Master in heaven.
No virtue inculcated on the one sex is omitted in describing the duties
of the other. The Christian character is a moral statue, to be wrought
by every living hand; and taste, composition, symmetry, effect, are
required and expected, in the spiritual workmanship, no less of woman
than of man.

The personal treatment which this sex received at the hand of Jesus, was
always respectful, as well as tender and kind. "His earliest friend was
a woman; his only steadfast friends through his ministry were women." It
was "the daughters of Jerusalem," who wept for him in his final agony.
"The last at his cross, and the first at his sepulchre, was a woman. And
when, after his ascension, the little company of believers was
assembled, waiting for the fulfilment of his promise, there also were
found the women who had accompanied him in life and stood by him in
death." How could he, with such proofs of their piety, zeal and
perseverance, fail to regard the sex with a consideration, at least
equal to that he bestowed upon man?

And in the religion itself, we find qualities with which the capacities
and powers of woman singularly harmonize. It is based upon the
affections. Love to God, and love to man, are its two great
commandments. The sacrifice it requires on the altar of life is that of
the heart. And what is this but the unquestioned empire of woman?
Sentiment with her is natural, the growth of her moral being; in man it
is usually acquired, the result of thought. Deny, as man may, her mental
equality with himself,--do